Hosta – Notes From My Garden

September – the Ninth Month

Published on September 6, 2025September 5, 2025 by Catherine19 Comments

How fast the months have passed and how strangely the seasons have shifted, surely a reminder that change is a constant in our gardens. Whether you believe in climate change or not, it’s hard to ignore the signs in front of us when we step into our gardens. The plants in my garden are both protesting and celebrating the strangeness of the seasons. Some plants have surrendered to the heat and drought, while others have been more prolific and vibrant than I could have hoped for. Here, we had an abundance of rain early in the summer, only to be surprised by the heat and prolonged dry spells that followed later in the season. Now, in the ninth month of the year and moving into Autumn, it has been an unpredictable year.

What will autumn and winter bring, and how will I plan for next year’s planting? Will your planting plans take account of the changes to the seasons, or do you think this year was simply an anomaly?

But let’s forget about the year ahead for the moment and get on with this week’s Six on Saturday.

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Farewell Tulips – you’ve been amazing.

Published on May 13, 2023August 5, 2023 by Catherine17 Comments

I couldn’t let the tulips leave without posting at least one final shot of my absolute favourite of the year, Tulip ‘Ballerina’. She looks as though she will last for another few days, after which she’s being planted into the ground. I’ve been really pleased with all the tulips this year, but I should have bought some more late flowerers to keep the show going a little longer. Lesson learned.

We’ve had some great weather this week, with only one day of wall-to-wall rain. There’s been an isolated shower or two, but otherwise, it’s been warm enough to discard jackets and change out of my gardening sweatshirt into a lightweight shirt. That’s great for mid-May in our area.

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Six on Saturday 2020 21-11

Published on November 21, 2020January 10, 2023 by Catherine36 Comments

In my little corner of the country, the garden has exhausted itself, and it’s looking sad and very dull, much like the weather. So this week I’m taking a look back to summer. Not only was it a Covid-19 summer, but it was also a dripping wet summer, at least, where I am. So this week my six is about rain. And before you switch off, this was welcome rain; it was light rain that fell gently one night in June and refreshed the garden after an unusually dry, sunny and warm spring.

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Six on Saturday 2020 04-07

Published on July 4, 2020November 26, 2020 by Catherine35 Comments

It’s been another week of mixed weather, but by Tuesday morning after several days of heavy rain, I couldn’t bare looking out of the window at my sad, bedraggled roses any longer and I grabbed my jacket, wellies and waterproof hat and went out to deadhead and tidy everything up.

It dried up after lunch, and so did I, and by evening the plants had lifted their heads (or what was left of them) and began to straighten up. I’m always pleasantly Continue reading “Six on Saturday 2020 04-07” →